What Lies in the Heart of Cards
by Walker of Nothing
Summary: Zerec attends Dual Academy to become a great dualist like his brother Marik. There he meets new friend's and some new dual's. However, a dark force seems to be at work. Are the Shadow Duelist's back to steal the Sacred Beasts? Will Zerec and the others be able to stop them before it's too late? Or will they all fall victim to the dreaded Shadow Duel's?


What Lies in the Heart of Cards by Walker of Nothing

A/N: This is my first Yugioh GX fiction so please give me feedback. Also, when displaying Attack and defense, the first number is always attack and second defense. Just for anyone who has never hears of Yugioh before ^^

xxx Chapter one Duels with Strangers and Friend's

Dual Academy was more amazing then I could have imagined. I remembered my brother's words and the deck he gave me.

_xxx _

_Zerec, take this. I believe it will serve you well in your journey to becoming a great dualist. _

_This is your original deck? But, why? _

_A deck like this can no longer serve my purpose, they have been with me through everything. So now, I pass them onto you, show the world what you can do Zerec. _

_I will Marik, I'll show them how powerful I've come. _

_Good, but don't forget, believe in the heart of the cards. _

_xxx _

I won't fail you brother, I've passed the exam with passing colors. Now all I need to do is see my results for the exams, I hope I did well. I believed in the cards, I believed with all my heart and it payed off.

"Excuse me." One of the instructors approached me and I saw that he had a slip of paper in his hands. "Are you, Zerec?"

"Yes, I'm Marik's brother." When I introduced myself, the instructors jaw dropped. "You mean _the _Marik. One of the top ten duelist in the world?" I couldn't help grinning when the instructor started apologizing profusely for not knowing who I was related to.

"It's okay, really." I tried to calm him down and eventually he did. "I'm not nearly as great as my brother, but I plan on following in his footsteps." I could be really modest sometimes, but I didn't mind being related to Marik. Even though people held me to a higher standard, I wouldn't have it any other way. I looked up to him, even when he was struggling against his alter ego. I never gave up on him, I'm just glad he's back, and I can't wait for him to visit.

"Well I wouldn't sell yourself short, according to these scores, you're in the top ten of the whole school." I was a little supposed, but where Marik and I came from, Dual Monsters was a way of life. The two of us were very knowledgeable, so it didn't surprise me to get a perfect on the written exams. The times dual I scored 90/100 which was pretty good. That was one of the common weaknesses Marik and I shared. We liked to take thing's slow to focus on the battle at hand. The entrance exam, which was the actual dual, I scored 300/325 overall, I did pretty well.

"Do you happen to have a list of the duelists who scored on the exams?"

"Of course." He fished around on his iPhone and sent the list to my Android. "Is there any particular reason for the list?"

"Yes, I like to compare my scores, it helps me to see what I need to improve on." I skimmed over the form and I decided to look at it later.

"Well your score, you will be placed in Obelisk Blue." The Instructor handed me a special set of clothes. They were mainly white with traces of blue on them and I could have sworn I'd seen them somewhere before.

"These aren't the normal Obelisk Blue clothes they hand out." The instructor looked up and apologized for his forgetfulness. "Yes, I apologize, these are only reserved for the elite. Also known as Obelisk White, you have to be exceptionally skilled to wear these." If only Marik could see me now, but he would be here sooner then they thought. Being in the Top 10 World ranking Duelists had it's advantages.

"Well, I'm honored and I'll make Obelisk White proud, you can count on that." I gave a small bow, as it was are family custom. The instructor hurried off to finish some grading or something like that. I quickly changed, but I kept my Millennium Necklace. A gift from Marik, it was something to keep our heart's connected no matter how far we were away.

I found a nice spot alone and looked over the scores at the Academy for the new year. There were a lot of people on the list, I looked over everyone, something I learned from Marik. _Never underestimate the weak, for those are the one's with untapped skills. _

Zane Trusdale: 525

Alexis Rhodes: 523

Chazz Princeton: 520

Atticus Rhodes: 519

Mindy: 518

Aster Phoenix: 517

Jasmine: 516

Jesse Anderson: 515

Bastion Misawa: 514

Syrus Trusdale: 512

Zerec Ishtar: 510

Tyranno Hassleberry: 505

Alice: 500

Yusuke fujiwara: 495

Missy: 490

Briar: 395

Beureguard:383

Blair Flannigan: 375

Dimitri: 350

Jaden Yuki: 300

Chumley Huffington: 225

"Looking over the scores?" I turned around to see a Obelisk Blue student looking over the scores. She had orange hair that fell past her shoulders which parted halfway down. Her eyes were filled with memories of a better time.

"Yeah, I have to make my brother proud."

"Who's your brother?"

"Marik Ishtar." The moment I told her who my brother was, her eyes widened.

"_The _Marik? One of the world's top ten dualisists?" I tended to get that reaction a lot, Marik and I didn't deserve fame. We really messed up, and if it wasn't for...

"Yeah, I came here to improve. I plan on becoming like my brother, but to be a strong dualist, you have to have a strong heart." It sounded cliche, but that's what Marik and I lived by.

"Hmm...well how about a duel? Think of it as a 'Welcome to Duel Academy' dual." I couldn't argue with that. Who better to dual than a total stranger.

"You ready?" I ask.

"As ready as ever." I could see the fire in her eyes and I just knew this was going to be am exciting dual.

I activated my dual disc and my friend did as well, both of us starting off with 4000 life points

"I'll take the first move since I'm a lady." She giggled and I couldn't help grinning.

"That's cool with me." I drew my five cards and she did the same. I had a decent hand which would get better in time.

"My draw." She drew her card and studied carefully before she summoned a monster. "I summon Amazoness Swords Woman in Attack mode." Her card appeared with **1500/1600**. Pretty decent offense and defense, but I wasn't going to lose that easily. "I place two face downs and end my turn. Your up Zerec."

"Alright, I put my Heart into dueling, 100%" Closing my eyes and focusing my Heart and mind. I drew a card and opened my eyes and saw the all too familiar card.

"Alright! Time to play this card!" Revealing the card and activating it's effect, "I play Pot of Greed. Allowing me to draw two cards from my deck." I drew two cards and smiled when I saw what they were. I summon Granadora in Attack mode." **1900/700. **"That's not all, I activate it's effect increasing my life points by 1000." As I said that my life points jumped to 5000. "I also play the spell card Infinite Cards, so as long as this card is active I can hold as many cards as I want in my hand."

"You like to dominate the first turn don't you?"

"I try, but I'm not done yet. Granadora, attack Amazoness Swords Woman." My monster extended it's claws as it rushed towards her monster. "To bad you fell for the trap I played, Amazoness Archers. Thanks to this your monster loses 500 attack points." My monster was still attacking and Amazoness Swords Woman sliced my monster inflicting 100 points of damage dropping me to 4900 points. My life points took another hit because of the second effect. Now I was down to 2900 points, thing's were not going well.

"Your turn Zerec." The way she winked at me almost through me off guard.

I drew my next card and immediately played it, "I play the Card of Safe Return spell card. I'll take advantage of it's effects in the future, but for now I'll summon Dark Jeroid **1200/1500 **and I'll activate it's effect as well. You see, after summoning Dark Jeroid, your monster loses 800 attack points." With the new reduction, her attack fell to **700** and I commanded my monster to attack. Her monster exploded into pieces, but something was wrong. She didn't lose any life points and I couldn't figure out why.

"Amazoness Swords Woman's effect allows me to deflect the damage to you." My life points dropped to 2400 as I fell to my knees from the abuse.

"At this rate I'm going to lose before I the day is over. I place a face down and end my turn." My friend drew a card and decided to hit me harder.

"I play the spell card Terraforming which allows me to add a field spell to my hand. I choose Amazoness Village and active it." The field around us morphed into a village and I felt like someone or something was watching me.

"Now I summon Amazoness Paladin in Attack mode **1700/1300 **and thanks to her effect my monster gains 100 attack for every Amazoness monster on my side of the field." Her monster jumped to 1800, but I had a sneaking suspicion she was only going to get stronger because of the field spell. "Now my monster gains 200 more attacks points because of my field spell," I was right and could only watch as her monster grew stronger jumping to 2000. "I also activate the equip spell Amazoness Heirloom. Which will allow me to automatically destroy your monsters and protect mine during battle." She was relentless and had a level head, but she didn't count on my face down card being useful. "Amazoness Paladin, attack Dark Jeroid!"

"Didn't count on my face down did you? I activate the trap card Malevolent Catastrophe." A huge aura of darkness swept through and destroyed her active spell cards taking care of some problems. Her monster dropped back down to 1800 and she lost the extra effects. "Malevolent Catastrophe is a trap card that allows me to destroy all spell and traps on the field when you attack me." Her monster still destroyed mine and I had lost my Infinite Cards spell and my Card of Safe Return, but it had to be done. I struggled to stand as the blast knocked me down to 1800 life points.

"Not bad, but it's my turn now." I closed my eyes and prayed that the card would be the one I needed. I drew and when I opened my eyes it was the perfect card I needed to turn this dual around. "I summon Cobra Jar in attack mode **600/300 **and activate it's effect. Allowing me to summon one Poisonous Snake token to the field **1200/1200**."

"What are you planning? There's no way you can beat my monster with those." She was right, I couldn't beat her, not until I played my Trump card.

"That's why I activate the spell card Creature Swap. Which allows both of us to choose a monster and switch with the other." The reason why I did what I did dawned on her at this very moment.

"That means..."

"Yes. I switch my Cobra Jar with your Amazoness Paladin." There was only one card left to play to end this. "I activate another spell card Monster Reborn. So I choose to revive your Amazoness Swords Woman on my side of the field **1500/1600**." Her monster materialized on my side of the field and Amazoness Paladin gained 100 attack points boosting her to 1900 since there were now two Amazoness Monsters on my side of the field.

"No! Amazoness!" She knows how hard it was for her own monsters to be used against her.

"Now, Amazoness Swords Woman, attack Cobra Jar." She leaped up and destroyed Cobra Jar inflicting 900 points of damage dropping her down to 3100 life points. She managed to stay standing, but not for long. "Now I activate her effect, inflicting Cobra Jars attack points as battle damage to your life points." Amazoness Swords Woman leaped into the air and sliced my opponent. Falling to her knees and losing 600 more life points bringing her to 2500 points. "Poisonous Snake token, attack her directly." The Snake spit vile poison knocking her down by 1200 points and bringing her total to 1300. "Amazoness Paladin, finish it up." The last attack dealt 1900 points of direct damage reducing her total to 0.

My new friend collapsed and the dual ended with my first victory. I rushed over to her and helped her up.

"Thanks." She was practically out of breath.

"It's the least I could do. Oh by the way, what's your name?"

"Jasmine, I've been here a couple of years so far."

Jasmine turned around at the sound of clapping and I did the same. I couldn't believe what I was seeing, but I knew _he _was right in front of me. "Congratulations brother, I'm sorry I had to Miss your entrance exam." I gave Marik a hug, glad to see that he was here.

"It's fine, I never forgot what you told me. To believe in the cards with my Heart."

"They never steer you wrong. Who is the beautiful young lady here?" Jasmine practically melted into a puddle when Marik asked her not just her name, but called her beautiful.

"Jasmine, second year student." She was blushing furiously and my brother just smiled.

"Obelisk Blue, if I'm correct," Jasmine nodded. "Zerec, I see you made it to Obelisk White. I'm proud of you brother and it's only your first day and you're already winning. Though I have to say, Jasmine didn't make it easy for you." Now her face was Turing an even deeper shade of red.

"Thanks Marik, I learn from the best." His purple eyes glowing with pride.

"Mr. Marik?"

"Please, just call me Marik." Marik felt weird when people referred to him as Mr. or Sir. I felt the same way, so I guess it's just genetics.

"Okay," Jasmine giggled in embarrassment, it wasn't everyday someone like my brother stopped by to say hi. "The celebratory meal is starting soon at the dorms. We would be honored if you would come and celebrate with us." Jasmine nervously played with the straps hanging on the side of her clothes.

"I think that's a great idea." My brother couldn't resist a celebration, I don't think anyone could really.

"Really? That's great!" Jasmine got excited and ran off towards the dorms leaving us behind.

"I suppose we'd better hurry so we aren't late." Marik nodded and the two of us headed off after Jasmine. Thing's were going pretty well for my first day at the Academy. Plus, with my brother here cheering me on, I think this year is going to be a great year.

"Come on guy's!" Jasmine was really fit, if it wasn't for red harsh environment Marik and I came from we wouldn't be able to keep up.

xxx


End file.
